


Needing A Holiday

by SherlokiOfPigfarts



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: A little angst, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - The Holiday (2006) Fusion, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Original Character(s), Romance, The Holiday AU, coldflash - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 09:07:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlokiOfPigfarts/pseuds/SherlokiOfPigfarts
Summary: Barry Allen needs a holiday from his home to forget about his ex. On a whim he ends up exchanging houses for Christmas with a young woman named Lisa Snart from England. He think's he'll be spending Christmas alone in the middle of nowhere, till he finds that she has a brother, one Barry can't seem to get away from.A Christmas Coldflash AU based on "The Holiday" from 2006. Christmas cheese galore.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been feeling Christmassy enough and this is my mum's favourite movie ever so we watched it again yesterday and I wrote this chapter in one day fuelled by a desperate need to feel Chrismassy and to FINALLY finish a fit chapter. So here is this mess. Merry Christmas <3

Barry threw Eobard’s suitcase over the house’s balcony.

“What the hell, Barry?!” Eobard yelled up at him from the patio of Barry’s house.

“I’ll send you the rest of your things!” Barry stormed back into the house but Eobard kept shouting up to him.

“I’m telling you I didn’t sleep with her, okay? You’re gonna regret this tomorrow you know!”

Barry stormed back onto the balcony with another load of clothes to throw over. “Just like you regret sleeping with your secretary?”

Eobard barely dodged a tornado of clothes that hurled towards him. Barry this time just glared at him from above.

“Babe, come on. Two year relationship and this is how you want to end it? Chucking my clothes off the balcony? You’re not even gonna cry?”

Barry rolled his eyes. He hadn’t cried in years and it had always been a sore spot for some, calling him robotic despite actually being rather emotional. He didn’t feel like crying now though. He felt like smashing the man’s head into the pavement. 

“Go cry to your secretary about it,” Barry finally shouted over the balcony before marching back into the house and slamming the balcony doors behind him. He screamed.

“Rough day?”

He heard a voice from downstairs and had to sigh to brace himself for company. He straightened himself out and sulked down the spiral staircase. He was relieved to see it was Cisco.

“I broke up with Eobard.”

He reached the bottom of the stairs to his friend. He would normally accept a hug but he was still full of pent up anger. The break up had been a long time coming but it was still infuriating to have it end that way. He moved past Cisco to go straight to the liquor cabinet in the kitchen. 

“I’m sorry, mate.” Cisco followed him, not really knowing what to say. The pair had met through Eobard but Cisco knew that his allegiance would be with Barry completely. “You know I’m here if you need anything.”

Barry pulled open the cabinet but nothing looked strong enough. “I’m fine. I just need to think about something else right now. I’m sure I have work I can do-”

“Seriously?” Cisco put a hand on his shoulder. It didn’t seem to calm the tension in Barry’s body though. He joked, “What you need is a holiday.”

Barry froze. “That’s what I should do.”

Barry sped off to his study with Cisco confused and hurrying behind him. 

“Dude, I was joking. It’s nearly Christmas and you’re gonna go on a last minute holiday?”

Barry reached the study and pulled open his laptop. “Why not? I don’t remember the last time I had a holiday, and if I can be away from all Eobard’s stuff the better.”

He started looking at destinations while Cisco finally reached the study too. He sat on the edge of the desk while Barry scrolled through foreign countries and holiday activities. Places seemed nice, but the last thing he was looking for was kayaking for one. Everything required someone else to make them fun and that was what he was trying to avoid. He narrowed it down to English speaking countries and tried to find the best homes.

“Barry, if this is gonna make you happy then go for it, but don’t drive yourself insane in the process, okay?” Cisco joked as Barry’s fingers typed at the speed of light. 

Eventually the sound of keys stopped and Barry turned the laptop round to show Cisco. On screen was a small cottage in Surrey, England. It looked idyllic, a small brick home sat in a snowy field and nothing else in sight. It was the exact opposite to Barry’s current home in LA.

“What about this one?”

“You’re really looking for a change, huh?”

Barry smiled at that, managing to relax a little. He found the button to contact the house owner and got to work.

 

 

_Hey, I found your house online and saw it was for rent this season. Is it still available? I know it’s close to Christmas but it’s just what I’m looking for. My name’s Barry. :)_

 

Lisa was just cooking when the message notification went off on her laptop. She wandered over from the oven to find the message from Barry on-screen. 

She'd never actually gotten a reply for renting her house before. It had been up for a year or two but a small cottage best suited for one in the middle of nowhere wasn't everyone's cup of tea. However she was quite pleased to find that someone now was interested.

She looked over the message and thought about how she could use a holiday too. Her ex had just gotten engaged and she was alone on Christmas again. Maybe a last minute getaway could work in her favour too.

_Hi Barry, I'm Lisa. The house is still available, but it's only for house exchange if you're interested._

_House Exchange?_

_It means while you stay at mine, I stay at yours. We trade houses, cars, everything. It's dramatic but I think you're idea of getting away for Christmas is a pretty good one. Where do you live?_

_L.A._

Lisa almost did a double take. L.A. She could be spending Christmas in freaking L.A! She suddenly felt like she’d been messaged by a Christmas Angel instead a person. 

Then Barry messaged again.

_One question: Are there any men there?_

Lisa thought about lying to get his favour but went with the honest answer.

_Zero._

So it was a relief when Barry messaged again.

_Perfect. It’s a deal._

Lisa felt like jumping for joy.

_When do you want to do this? The sooner the better for me._

_How does tomorrow sound?_

_Amazing. I’ll send you the address. My friend Cisco will let you into the house._

_Perfect Xx_

 

 

When Barry’s flight from L.A and long drive from the airport finally dropped him at the cottage, it was a relief. The place luckily looked just like it’s photo and the spare key Lisa had hidden for him was where it should be. 

When he went in, it was perfect. The place was small, cozy and the opposite of back home. He ended up wondering around the place for a while to find everything. 

The one fault, if you could call it one, was that Barry was staying in a girl’s house. His feet would definitely stick out the end of the bathtub and the sheets were pink, but he would endure. Lisa also had a dog, which she had mentioned luckily, so Barry wouldn’t be alone. It felt odd, being a home so personal to someone, but it felt nicer for Christmas than any hotel would. 

He ended his wanderings back at the front door, a dog now at his feet. He came to the final conclusion that yes, this would do.

 

When Lisa stood in front of the L.A house, she had to double check the address. The house she had ended up at was huge. She had to hit a buzzer for the gate to even open. She knew Barry had money but this seemed excessive. It was also just what she wanted.

She knocked on the front door and was greeted by something else to make the stay good.

“Hey,” the cute guy that opened the door looked taken aback to see her. She admitted that coming from the middle of nowhere in England was definitely not reflected in her appearance. 

“You must be Cisco. I’m Lisa, here for the house exchange?”

Cisco kept staring at her, which she didn’t mind. “Uh-yeah that’s me. Uh, come on in!”

He quickly stepped out of the doorway and Lisa’s jaw nearly dropped. The place was huge. There was a spiraling staircase, a doorways in multiple directions, and a ceiling of glass. It was like a house in a movie.

“Oh. My. God.” She immediately started moving around the house, Cisco wandering a few steps behind her. There was a lounge with a screen double her own at home and more DVDs that she could imagine. The kitchen was sleek and led into another lounge where she left her coat. 

“There’s a study and bedroom upstairs and the way to the pool is just out the back-”

“There’s a pool?!” she turned back to him with a grin before scanning for this back door. Then she spied a doorway by the back of the second lounge. She raced over to the glass door and opened it to reveal a pool in the L.A sun. She couldn’t resist squealing.

She didn’t even wait to grab her swimming costume. She just ran at in.

Cisco raced after her to just see her plunge in, still fully clothed. She burst out form the surface laughing, pushing her masses of her out of her face.

Cisco’s only thoughts were that his friend had given his home over to a crazy woman. A fun, gorgeous, but crazy woman.

 

 

It was the middle of the night in Surrey and Barry couldn’t sleep. It would still be light in L.A and definitely to a time to go to sleep at so he wasn’t surprised that his body wasn’t used to the time zone change.

He’d spent his day as lonely as he’d expected. He’d managed to grab wine and chocolate from the nearest town, have a bath, dance around the house with a glass of red, have a staring contest with the dog and read a book. None of it helped him sleep. It had been a bit sad in his opinion, but not as sad as wallowing in that big house by himself. Lisa had some good CDs and no neighbours so dancing around in a blanket with Mr Brightside playing at full volume was something no one else had to know about. 

He was trying again to get himself to sleep, when banging at the front door nearly made him jump out of his skin. THe dog started barking at the door too so Barry knew there was no sleeping now. He jumped out of bed and turned on a light when the bagning happened again. 

It was a short walk to the top of the stairs and to see the front door. 

“Who’s there?” He called.

“Lisa it’s just me. Can you open the door? I like the cold but this is ridiculous.”

The voice didn’t give him anything to work with for an identity, so he started moving slowly to the door. Till the man started yelling again.

“Lisa, open the door or I’m gonna take a piss on your-”

Barry immediately panicked and ran to open the door.

He opened it to find a cute guy and blue eyes looking back at him. The man looked equally surprised to see him and ended up staring back at him too. 

When the guy finally spoke, it was with a much smoother voice. “I know I’ve had a little to drink, but you don’t look like Lisa.”

It took Barry a second to speak. “Yeah, I’m not Lisa, sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry about the swearing,” He ran a hand across his face, a little drunk and embarrassed. “If you don’t mind..Can I just use-”

“OH my god, of course,” Barry quickly moved out of the doorway to let the man in to use the bathroom, the guy clearly knowing his way better than Barry did. 

The man turned around before reaching the door though and stretched out his hand. “I’m Leonard, Lisa’s brother.”

Barry shook his hand with a moment of relief at the explanation. “I’m Barry Allen. I’m just renting the place for the holidays.”

“Good to meet you Barry,” he smiled before heading into the bathroom. 

The second the door closed Barry started mildly freaking out. Of course Lisa had an older brother, a hot older brother who was now in the house with him. Without thinking about it he moved to the nearest mirror and sorted the mess he called his hair and tried to not look like he had been trying to sleep. He was in his pyjamas and an old jumper of his, hardly what he would wear for an attractive stranger at the door but he didn’t have time to change. It would have to do.

Len exited the bathroom and Barry tried to act natural. 

“So where is my trainwreck sister if not here?” He asked with a smirk, clearly only teasing her.

Barry smiled up at him but tried not to appear like he was staring. “Uh, she’s at my house in L.A. We did a house swap for two weeks during the holidays.”

“Doesn’t surprise me for her to go adventuring.” Len smirked at the idea. “She tried calling earlier but I’ve been at the pub and didn’t manage to get back to her. She must have called to tell me.”

Barry just nodded as he talked. He felt like a kid with a crush just smiling at him and struggling to focus on any other thought than his brain going _attractive guy alert._

“Do you want a drink?” He finally asked, pulling himself into the kitchen. “I managed to work out where the kettle is if you want a cup of tea? You probably want a water after going to the pub.”

Len smiled as he watched Barry move into the kitchen. He decided to sit down in the lounge. “There’s a bottle of brandy Lisa hides behind the olive oil on the counter. Fancy a glass?”  
Barry considered his options and decided a drink with the cute stranger was the best way to go. He grabbed some glasses and headed in with the brandy.

Len in the meantime had taken off his coat and Barry saw that the guy was muscular too. A muscular stranger in a shirt and tie. Barry was starting to wonder if he had actually fallen asleep and had imagined himself a dreamy stranger to make himself feel less pathetic. He opted for keeping the dream going either way and sat down next to Leonard with a glass.

“Sorry for intruding at this hour,” Len said, taking the other glass, “Lisa often lets me crash here and I didn’t realise she’d left. Probably should have called first. Would you mind if I stayed? I can sleep on the sofa and be gone before you know it.”

“Of course,” Barry said a little too quickly but ignored it, adding under his breath, “an extra person might do me some good right now.”

“And why’s that?”

Barry sighed. Maybe his comment hadn’t been as ‘under his breath’ as he’d thought. He looked into his glass of brandy. “Well, I ended a two year relationship yesterday and came out here on a whim. I thought if I went somewhere else I would feel less alone for the holidays, but I only ended up feeling lonelier here.”

Barry rolled his eyes at himself. “Bet you’re glad you knocked on this door.”

“I am, actually.” 

Barry found Len was smiling at him. He tried to not turn bright red and failed. He quickly changed the subject lest anymore flirting turn him redder. “I’ll grab you a blanket. Do you know where they’re kept?”

Len just kept smiling at him, pointing to a cupboard on the other side of the room. “Spare pillow and blanket are in there.”

Barry nodded and got up, aware that Len’s eyes were following him. He got over to the cupboard and tried not to think about it.

“Well,” Len leaned back on the sofa. “If it helps, I think that girl must be kicking herself for letting you go.”

Barry shut the cupboard, blanket and pillow in his arms. “It was a guy, actually.”

He quickly turned back for Len’s reaction. All he got was a raised eyebrow and a satisfied smirk. It was a good sign as far as flirting went. He walked back over to him and placed the things down on the sofa.

“I think that’s everything. Uh...good night.”

Len stood up to join Barry on his feet. “Sweet dreams.”

Then Len quickly kissed him. 

The pair froze. Both looked equally freaked out.

“I uh…” Len was speechless for the first time that night. “I didn’t mean to, I mean, I’m sorry I…”

If Len lost his confidence, Barry suddenly found his. 

“No complaints here,” He said with a laugh. 

Len just stared at him in surprise for a moment. Barry felt taken aback by his own comment a little too, but he wasn’t about to take it back. 

Len took the open invitation and kissed him again, this time cupping Barry’s face. Barry was quick to wrap his arms round Len in return. This kiss was deeper, each taking their time to melt into it.

When they pulled apart Barry tried to catch his breath. When he spoke, they were still dangerously close.

“So, I have a proposition.”

Len scoffed at that but kept smiling at him.

“We can either go with our initial plans and you can sleep down here and we can never see each other again, which is totally your call. Or, because we’re both a little tipsy and you’re really hot and we’re probably never going to see each other again...I’m thinking we should have sex. Your call though.”

Len just raised an eyebrow. “Is that a trick question?”

“I’m actually pretty serious.” Barry ended up going even redder and opted for playing with Len’s tie while blabbering more instead of looking him in the eye. “I mean this is what vacation is for and I never do this and-”

Barry kept talking and turning redder in the face from blushing but Len had already made up his mind. He kissed Barry again to cut him off from spiraling. “I think I like option two.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Morning After.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the love this has gotten so far, both form people who know the film and don't.
> 
> Merry Christmas and I'll see you in the morning!

When Len woke up in his sister’s house, he knew she would kill him when she found out. But in his opinion, if it was between getting slaughtered by Lisa or missing out on last night, it would be worth it. 

He hadn’t been expecting to find Barry when he had arrived last night, but it was a surprise he was happy for. A cute guy, newly single and looking for company? It felt like Christmas came early. 

Unfortunately he woke up to find himself in the bed alone, though thankfully not hungover. He sat up to look for his clothes and found them on the floor. He got changed, keeping an ear out for his companion but hearing nothing.

Once dressed he headed downstairs and found him. Barry was glaring at a coffee machine on the kitchen counter, pressing different buttons with little success. 

“Good morning,” Len said, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. 

Barry looked over with a smile, blushing a little. “Good morning.”

The pair looked at each other for a moment, before Barry broke the silence. “Can you help me?”

Len chuckled a little but moved over to the coffee machine. He simply leaned behind it and pulled out the chord to show that it wasn’t plugged it. Barry looked at the plug and empty socket in silence for a horrified moment before laughing at himself. 

“Typical. Thanks,” he laughed and took the chord from him to plug the machine in. Len simply slid past him to the other side of the room to grab a mug. So when Barry got the machine whirling and turned round flustered, Len was already there with a mug.

“Smooth,” Barry muttered to himself which only made Len smile. He turned back to the coffee machine and started off making a drink when a phone started ringing. 

Len’s phone on the counter started buzzing. Barry quickly passed it over to him and looked away a little awkwardly after. Len didn’t get why till he saw that the caller I.D said Sophie. He hoped Barry didn’t think it was a girlfriend calling.

“I’ll call her back in a bit,” Len said and put the phone in his pocket instead of answering.

Barry just nodded at that. “Do you want a coffee?”

Len wanted to stay. He wanted to sit and drink coffee with Barry and learn more about him but he wasn’t so lucky. “I should actually be going.”

Barry deflated a little at that. “Oh. Of course, totally. Don’t worry.”

“Not that this wasn’t-”

“No, no it’s okay, really. One time thing, I get it.”

“I’m a bit of a heartbreaker according to Lisa and I don’t want to-”

“I’m not gonna-it’s okay Len. I get it. We’re clearly neither in the place for anything more than this. It’s okay.”

Leonard wanted to bite his tongue. In all honesty he didn’t do this much either. He didn’t want Barry thinking that he was happy to spend the night and ditch him, because if he was being honest with himself he rather liked Barry. He ended up awkwardly moving to put his coat on nonetheless. 

“Well, you probably won’t hear from me again, and you probably don't want to, so I'll leave you to your holiday.”

Barry seemed silently disappointed and Len definitely felt so. He made his way to the door but once he reached it he rolled his eyes at himself. He decided to bite the bullet.

“But,” Len turned back, trying to seem more suave than he was feeling, “if you did want to see each other again, I'm meeting some friends at the pub down the road tonight if you wanted to join.”

Barry put his hands up defensively. “You don't have to accommodate me if you don't want me around-”

“I do want you around.” 

Barry found Len surprised him again. It was a relief for Len to see Barry crack a smile,

“I'll think about it,” Barry said, trying to hide a grin. 

 

 

When Cisco headed back to Barry’s house the next day to check in Lisa, he felt nervous knocking on the door. He’d been cautious when Barry said he was handing his house over to a stranger, but nothing could prepare him for the storm that was Lisa Snart. She had been nice to him and was able to leave him lost for words, but she was also unpredictable.

Nothing showed that more than when she opened the door that evening, looking amazing of course.

“Cisco!” She opened the door with a smile and dressed to impress. “Glad to see I didn't scare you off earlier.”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing…” He trailed off when he heard laughing coming from inside. “Do you have people over?”

She smirked at him. “I made friends with my new neighbor Stein and he decided to introduce me to some of his friends, so I'm sat in the kitchen with a bunch of old men telling stories. You wanna join?” 

Lisa continued to surprise him. “I'd be happy to join you.”

She grinned at this and opened the door for him to join. He stepped in and she took his arm in order to walk to the kitchen with him. 

“Stein also gave me a list of old movies to watch.”

“Oh, I can definitely help with that if you want company while you watch.”

“Sounds perfect.”

 

 

 

Len tied his coat a little tighter as he walked. He enjoyed the cold stroll down to the pub, the winter air around the small English town. It was a nice break.

He reached the entrance and went inside in search of his friends. He expected to find no one else, but luckily wasn't faced with disappointment. 

He found Mick and Sara with her girlfriend Ava stood at the bar, and to his surprise, Barry too. Sara was clearly teasing Barry about something because he was blushing again. Len expected nothing less from his friends.

“Don't tell me you're all scaring him back to America already,” Len said as he joined them.

Barry looked relieved to see him but Sara gave Len a grin that told him she was happy to shift her teasing from one man to the other. 

“Oh look who's finally showed up.” Ava laughed trying to reel her girlfriend in.

“Barry came in here looking like a deer in headlights, trying to find you. Luckily Mick overheard and reeled him over to our side. Plenty of time to tell him all your embarrassing stories.” Sara gave Len a wink. 

Len rolled his eyes but saw Barry smiling at him all the same. He shuffled to stand next to Barry and put an arm around him. “Glad you came.”

Barry didn't turn red this time, but smiled even bigger. “Me too.”

 

 

Barry managed to make his way down the stairs the next morning but with an immense headache. 

“I don’t think I’ve had that much to drink in...oh who am I kidding, I’ve never had that much to drink.”

He was expecting to find an empty kitchen upon going downstairs but was happy to see Len in the there with a cup of tea. 

Len smiled upon seeing him. “I don’t think anyone has ever drank that much, well, except Sara maybe. That’s why you don’t drink with her.”

Barry ran a hand over his face. He could see Len smiling at him as he turned on the coffee machine. 

Barry sat down at the table and tried not to look at Len as he asked. “Last night...did...did we um…”

“Nope.”

Barry turned back to Len a little surprised. He didn’t think Len would have stayed if they hadn’t slept together again. However it was a slight relief that they hadn’t considering that he didn’t remember anything from last night. “Oh.”

“Yes, it’s not good conduct to have sex with people who are unconscious.”

Barry immediately sobered. “I was unconscious?! Oh god.”

He banged his head on the table. Len just laughed.

“I stayed to make sure you were okay...and because you begged me to at one point.”

Barry just groaned in embarrassment, still face down on the table. He only looked up when Len placed a mug of coffee down next to him. 

“I’m sorry about all that. I’m normally not this mad.”

“Don’t apologise to me, I’m rather enjoying it.”

Barry bit his lip. To hide a blush he reached for his cup of coffee. 

Then Len’s phone rang, same as yesterday. Barry looked over and found another girl’s name, this time, Olivia. Len reached over the table to grab it and paused upon seeing name. “I should probably take this one.”

Barry put on a smile while Len stepped outside to take his phone call. Barry couldn’t hear what Len was saying but he could hear Len laughing with someone on the other side. 

Sophie, Olivia, and now Barry. He wondered how Len could have girls messaging him every morning and still decide to spend the time with him. He watched Len from the window, cradling his cup of coffee. Then Len turned back to the house and Barry looked away in a panic to not appear staring. He was sure he failed.

Len headed back in once his phone call was done. He put his hands in his pockets and Barry prepared for him to leave again.

“I think we should go to town.”

Barry paused. “What?”

Len smirked. He moved away from the doorway and over to Barry. “I think you should get dressed, we should go to town for lunch and get to know each other.”

Barry was taken aback, but quite pleasantly. “Like a date?”

“Yeah, like a date,” Len laughed, “I’m running out of reasons for why we shouldn’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I have a bunch of unfinished stuff that I said would be done by now but University has been kicking my ass and I had inspiration for this so I went for it. I'm gonna finish this as soon as possible amongst my other things. I wrote all this in one day so if I keep it up I can have it all done fairly quickly.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated and help me get off my lazy ass and write. Will explain what I've been up to in my updates on Kiss From a Rose.
> 
> Merry Christmas I love you all <3 <3 <3


End file.
